TOKYO, Japan, January 13, 2005—SEMI today announced the keynote speakers for its upcoming Global Flat Panel Display Partners Conference (GFPC), to be held February 27 to March 2, 2005 in Nago City (Okinawa, Japan). The inaugural GFPC—which aims to provide invaluable networking opportunities for information exchange and cooperation among executives within the FPD industry—will feature keynote speakers from China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the U.S.

Specifically, this display industry summit will include an impressive line-up of keynote addresses, including:

Additionally, SEMI is organizing delegations of top government and TV manufacturing industry representatives from China to attend the conference.

"As the FPD industry continues to grow, it will be critical for company executives to work in close cooperation to address key issues, such as FPD manufacturing, customer and supplier relations, as well as partnering for success. These distinguished speakers, who represent this very dynamic industry, will raise awareness of the most pertinent issues facing the industry at large, with the GFPC serving as a platform for further discussion on these topics among conference participants," noted Dennosuke Uchida, president of SEMI Japan.

Attended by company CEOs, presidents and senior-level executives, the GFPC will also feature several panel sessions, which will concentrate on outlooks and forecasts on the future of the PC monitor, mobile displays and FPD TV sectors. An executive roundtable will feature discussions on new display technologies and applications, as well as an FPD industry forecast for the next decade. Companies participating in the panel sessions and executive roundtable include Acer, Apple, Hitachi, LG.Philips LCD, Motorola, NEC, NHK, NTT DoCoMo, Nokia Samsung SDI, Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices and Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology.

The GFPC is co-sponsored by Nikkei BP, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), the Taiwan TFT-LCD Association (TTLA) and the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC), and is supported by the Okinawa Prefecture

The GFPC 2005 will be held at the Bankoku Shinryokan convention facilities (the venue of the 2000 G8 Summit) in Nago City from February 27 to March 2. To register for the conference or view the detailed conference agenda, please visit www.semi.org/gfpc.